A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE confessions and give absolution, even in cases usually reserved for himself. Other troubles followed. The sheep and oxen wandered through the fields untended, and died in great numbers for want of care ; then a murrain broke out among them also. The crops perished ungathered ; and in the next year there was famine. 68 Thomas Walsingham, of St. Albans, writes in the same strain : ' Such misery came of all these sorrows, that the world has never since returned to its former state.' 69 Some doubt has recently been thrown upon Knighton's statistics ; and indeed the records of the borough of Leicester a few years later show a degree of prosperity which is hard to understand if nearly a third of the population had been swept away in the plague. 60 But whatever may have been the actual truth with regard to the people generally, there is no question at all about the effects of the pestilence amongst the clergy and religious. The registers of Bishop Gynwell in 1349 61 show a steady rise in the number of deaths from May onwards ; by the end of November as many as seventy- two of the parish clergy had perished. The large abbey of Croxton Kerrial was almost emptied of its inhabitants ; 63 six of the chantry priests in the college of Kirby Bellars died within the same year ; 63 other religious houses which have left no record no doubt suffered in similar ways." In 1361 the registers show a fresh outbreak. Forty-three parish priests died in this year, seven of the canons as well as the dean of Newark, 65 and nearly all the brethren of St. John's Hospital in Leicester. 66 This evidence, which is quite independent of Knighton, tends to prove that though his figures may not be entirely accurate, his picture is not on the whole seriously overdrawn. The effects of these troubles upon character differed, as might be ex- pected, very widely. To some the visitation brought a deeper sense of sin and fear of judgement ; this led to the multiplication of chantries and gild services. The reckless grew more wild and reckless than ever : the year following the pestilence is specially marked by daring thefts and acts of sacrilege. Thieves entered the monastery of Leicester and others in the neighbourhood, carrying off relics, images, and sacred vessels wherever they could lay hands upon them. 67 The rights of sanctuary were so often invaded that the bishop had to issue a special condemnation of this form of outrage. 68 Two notable cases occurred in connexion with the chapel of St. Sepulchre outside Leicester about this time. One Walter Wynkbourn was hanged at Leicester under sentence of the preceptor of Dalby : on his way to burial in the cemetery of St. Sepulchre he revived, and was carried into the chapel for safety. Here he was guarded by the priest in charge until a special pardon could be obtained for him from the king, without which he would certainly have been dragged out and hanged again. The pardon in this case was easily 48 Chrm. Henrici Knigbton (Rolls Ser.), ii, 61. " Walsingham, Hist. An$. i, 273. 60 Miss Bateson suggests that the totals in Knighton may be made up by adding several years together. Rec. of Bon. of Leic. ii, p. Ixiv. It is necessary to refer to these facts, which belong properly to the economic and social history of the county, in order to show the importance of the evidence as to deaths among the clergy. 61 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 294 d. 302 d. Anyone who has studied the episcopal registers knows that they are never quite complete ; so that the number given above is certainly below the truth. Rymer, FoeJera, v, 729. ei Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell. 4 A chartulary of Garendon Abbey notes five plague years 1348, 1361, 1369, 1374, 1389.
- Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, 333-5. M Ibid. 334</.
" Chron. H. Kr.lghton (Rolls Ser.), ii, 120-1. M Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Buckingham, 123. 362
